December is a busy month in music history:
- The 89th anniversary of Little Richard’s birth was on December 6
- R.E.M.’s Peter Buck celebrated his 66th birthday on December 6
- Yasiin Bey/Mos Def celebrated his 49th birthday on December 11
- The Time’s Morris Day celebrated his 65th birthday on December 1
- R.E.M.’s Mike Mills celebrated his 64th birthday on December 17
- The Rolling Stones‘ Keith Richards celebrated his 79th birthday on December 18
- The 52nd anniversary of DMX‘s birth was also on December 18
- The Black Crowes‘ and Chris Robinson Brotherhood (CRB)‘s Chris Robinsoncelebrated his 56th birthday on December 20
- Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder celebrated his 58th birthday on December 23
- The 77th anniversary of Motörhead‘s founder, frontman — and overall badass — Lemmy Kilmister was on December 24
- Annie Lennox celebrated her 68th birthday on December 25
- Metallica‘s Lars Ulrich celebrated his 59th birthday on December 26
- The 108th anniversary of the birth of Roebuck “Pops” Staples, the legendary patriarch and founder of The Staple Singers, which featured his son Pervis and his daughters Mavis, Yvonne and Cleotha, was on December 28
The legendary and incomparable Patti Smith celebrates her 76th birthday today. Her influence on almost every singer/songwriter has been towering.
I’ve had the pleasure of seeing her live on a couple of occasions, including catching her open for Neil Young at Madison Square Garden. (I also saw her interview Neil Young at Book Expo, right around the time his memoir was released.) Every time, she was mesmerizing. Let’s celebrate Patti’s life and work. Happy birthday, Patti! May there been many, many more!